


Thank God It's Friday

by WorldOfOurOwn



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Recreational Drug Use, Vomiting, and she actually likes catherine, anne is also a nice person, but it's like ... what you'd expect from a fic about a frat party, catherine is a nice person, i'll add more tags as chapters get added for warnings and things, she's just angry and bitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22030126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorldOfOurOwn/pseuds/WorldOfOurOwn
Summary: Henry (and Anne) persuade Catherine to go to a frat party, and it goes about as well as expected. But maybe it's not a complete loss if she makes a new friend along the way.College au where Catherine and Henry are still dating, before Anne does anything with Henry
Relationships: (but not a ship bc no one in this fandom likes henry), Anne Boleyn & Catherine of Aragon, Catherine of Aragon/Henry VIII of England
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've already got like the whole thing done, but I'm posting it in chapters bc 1. i think it's better separated and 2. i still need to edit the rest so 
> 
> just know that this WILL actually be finished
> 
> also i want to say i feel blessed at the recent influx of catherine of aragon fics bc i really love her so thank you every fanfic author who writes her as a main character <3

“C’mon, babe. You _gotta_ come. It’s gonna be the biggest party of the semester!”

Henry lay in the grass next to Catherine as she rolled her eyes at his whining. He had been pestering her about it for days, trying to convince her to come to his frat’s huge party. Call her a bad girlfriend, but having to be around a bunch of drunk idiots didn’t exactly sound like a fun time.

“You know how I feel about parties,” Catherine said with a shake of her head. She sat against a tree, her laptop drawn up on her legs as she tried to finish up some classwork. 

“Uh, that they’re super cool and fun?” Henry said with a tone as though the answer was completely obvious.

“No,” Catherine said, her face scrunched in annoyance. “Every single time I agree to go to a party with you, you always ditch me for your dumb friends.”

“They’re not dumb,” Henry said, getting equally annoyed. “You’ve never even tried to socialize with them.”

“That’s because they’re always playing some kind of drinking game, and you know I don’t drink.”

“Yeah, well it’s not my fault you don’t know how to have fun,” Henry half-muttered.

“Well, it sounds like you’ll have just as good a time without me,” Catherine snapped finally, slamming her laptop closed and shoving it in her backpack. She was so sick of having the same old argument with him.

“C’mon, babe. You know that’s not what I meant,” Henry said, sounding more exasperated than apologetic, as Catherine continued packing up.

“Whatever. I have to get to class anyway,” Catherine half-lied. Class didn’t start for another thirty minutes, but she really didn’t want to have this conversation.

Henry sighed, standing up as Catherine did. He stared at her as she avoided eye contact. “I’ll still see you tonight?” he asked.

Catherine finally looked over at him, and he looked so tired that she felt a little guilty. She hesitated before giving a tight smile. “Yeah. I’ll text you later.”

That was enough to make Henry smile too. “Love you,” he said softly, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

Catherine rolled her eyes, but her smile loosened into something more genuine. “Love you too,” she said, and then she was off.

\---

It was difficult for Catherine to admit that maybe things weren’t working out between them. They had started dating freshman year when things were still kind of confusing. She had been figuring out how to be away from her family and her friends when Henry walked into her life.

They had met at a party—and yes, Catherine knew the irony in that—and he had seemed so nice and _decent_ compared to all the other disgusting boys. They exchanged numbers, which Catherine promptly forgot about as she was dragged away by her new, orientation friends. It was only the next morning when she woke up to a text from him that she thought, “Okay, let’s give this a try.”

In their sophomore year, he said that he loved her, and when she said it back, she meant it.

But over the years, it became clear that maybe he had minded when Catherine started turning down party invites. She was getting tired of parties with the loud music and the drunk people and Henry consistently getting wasted with his friends, but the more she refused, the more upset he got.

It seemed like kind of a stupid reason to break up with your girlfriend of three years, just because she didn’t like partying, but Catherine still worried. After all, it wasn’t like Henry didn’t have options. That was made perfectly clear when she would see his phone blow up with a bunch of random girls’ numbers after a night of partying.

He reassured her that he would never cheat on her, and Catherine always trusted him. Or at least, she tried her hardest to trust him. But it was hard not to see that Henry was unhappy.

And then of course there was Anne. Henry had met her through a shared class that was a requirement for Business majors, and suddenly she was hanging around them almost all the time.

Anne was everything that Catherine was not. She was loud, opinionated, and abrasive. And more importantly, she was actually fun, when she wasn’t being annoying.

To be perfectly honest, Catherine didn’t trust her. Henry obviously liked Anne a lot, and it seemed as though they spent a lot of time together alone. It didn’t help that the only time Catherine ever saw Anne was when Anne was with Henry.

Catherine and Anne only shared one class: Chemistry. It was an elective that neither had expected the other to take, Catherine being a Philosophy major and Anne being a Business and English double major.

Most of the time Anne skipped lecture, but on this particular day, Anne rushed in a moment before class started. She found Catherine in the lecture hall and sat next to her. This only served to irritate Catherine even more. The small fight with Henry had left her in a sour mood, and Anne inspired feelings of bitterness and jealousy.

Anne flashed a quick smile at her, and though Catherine tried to attempt a smile back, she was unsure of how successful she was.

As class ended, she rushed to pack up to get away from Anne as quickly as possible, but Anne didn’t seem to get the memo as she tried to start up a conversation.

“God, these lectures are way more boring than I remember,” Anne joked as she waited by Catherine. Unlike her, Anne had not bothered to take out a laptop or notebook for the lecture, and so she was already prepared to go.

“Why’d you come then? You usually don’t,” Catherine said, not bothering to look away from her backpack as she placed her notebook and pens inside.

Anne shrugged. “Dunno. Figured the material was getting more interesting, so maybe the lectures would be too.”

Catherine furrowed her eyebrows at that. She certainly didn’t think the material was getting any more interesting, so much as the material was just getting weirder and more confusing.

Anne must have noticed Catherine’s doubtful expression, because she smirked and asked, “What, you don’t find it interesting?”

“Do I find orbitals interesting?” Catherine scoffed. “Not at all. I only took this class to fulfill the scientific breadth requirement, and I was good at it in high school.”

“You still show up for lecture though. And you take notes,” Anne pointed out, as Catherine zipped up her bag.

She threw it over her shoulder and gave Anne a saccharine smile. “That’s because unlike some people, I actually like being studious,” she said, taking a subtle jab at Anne’s general laid-back attitude. At this, Anne’s smile faltered, a little bit, but that didn’t deter her from following Catherine as she tried to leave.

“Well anyways,” Anne said, in an attempt to steer the conversation into better territory, “I wanted to ask you about the party this weekend—”

At this Catherine whipped her head towards Anne. “You mean the one Henry’s frat is hosting?”

“Yeah!” Anne said, her face brightening as she misinterpreted Catherine’s quick response. “You’re going?”

Catherine hesitated. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, Henry invited me—” Catherine sneered at that, but Anne didn’t seem to notice and charged forward “—and I just figured maybe we could go together,” Anne said with a crooked grin. “Safety in numbers, right?”

Catherine bit her lip and tried not to overthink it. It was normal for Henry to have invited Anne. Anne was, as much as Catherine loathed to admit it, his friend, and friends invite friends to parties. So then why was she so upset to hear that Anne would be there?

She wondered briefly how many other parties had Henry invited Anne to that Catherine had turned down.

Catherine must have been silent for too long because Anne said, “I mean, it’s fine if you don’t want to. You probably don’t like parties that much, since you’re so studious.”

Catherine frowned at that and searched Anne’s face for any sign of malicious intent. Was she purposefully trying to mock Catherine?

“No, I’ll be there,” Catherine finally said, “but I’m going with Henry, so.”

She left the sentence open-ended for Anne to interpret how she wanted.

“Ah,” Anne said, understanding crossing her face. If she was disappointed, she hid it well since her smile betrayed nothing. “That’s okay. I’ll just see you both there then.”

Catherine gave a tentative smile. “Yeah, see you there.”

And so, they parted.

And so, Catherine texted Henry that actually, yes, she would be attending the party.

When she finally met up with him at her apartment, he laughed and kissed her, breaking it when he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. It made her think that maybe the party wouldn’t be so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

The party was pretty bad.

Frat parties weren’t usually fun when you were sober. It was just a lot of loud music, dancing while crushed between everyone else in the room, and screaming to be heard, if you were foolish enough to try to make conversation.

It was only an hour in, and Henry had already ditched her, as she’d predicted. Well, maybe saying “ditched” was too harsh. It was more like he had headed to the kitchen to refill his drink and had never come back, and honestly, that could just be because he couldn’t find his way back through the massive crowd.

She had only been waiting a few minutes, but really Henry shouldn’t be taking that long just to get a refill. Steeling her nerves, Catherine decided to try to go after him, grimacing in disgust as bodies pushed and shoved against hers, until finally she was in the kitchen. And Henry was nowhere to be seen. Perfect.

With a sigh she grabbed a solo cup and went to search the room for something non-alcoholic to drink. When her search proved fruitless, she decided to just fill it with tap water.

Before she could even take a sip, she heard a “Catherine!” shouted over the music. She turned around to see Anne with flushed cheeks and a wide grin headed her way.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you!” she said, slinging her arm around Catherine’s shoulder. “Where’ve you been? Where’s Henry?”

Catherine rolled her eyes. “I figured you and Henry would’ve already found each other by now,” she said bitterly.

Anne tilted her head in confusion and pulled her arm back. “Right,” she said a little awkwardly. “Well, I haven’t seen him yet, so.” After a pause she added, “I thought he’d be with you?”

“We got separated in that whole mess,” she said, gesturing towards the whole crowd that filled the main room of the house. It was a bit of a lie, since they had been separated before Catherine had decided to enter the dancing crowd, but Anne nodded knowingly anyway.

“Yeah, these things get a little chaotic,” Anne said with a laugh. “Are you having fun at least?”

Catherine didn’t want to say no, so she shrugged and took a sip of her water in lieu of actually responding. It must not have been convincing though, because Anne laughed again.

“I get that. Frat parties are kinda stupid, huh? But at least they have free drinks,” she said, holding up a cup of her own. Then, remembering why she had entered the kitchen in the first place, she went to refill her cup with the mystery punch that was mixture of God knows what beverages.

“I thought you didn’t drink, though?” Anne said, looking over at Catherine as she filled her cup, prompting Catherine to give her a puzzled look. Anne explained, “Henry mentioned it when we were talking about his frat’s parties.”

“Of course he did,” Catherine muttered, low enough that Anne couldn’t hear it over the music.

“What?” Anne asked.

“This is just water,” Catherine said louder, holding up her solo cup. “I’m very sober right now.”

Anne winced at that and looked like she was about to say sorry when Catherine continued to say, “I’m going to head outside.”

Anne looked surprised and nodded, allowing Catherine to step by and fight through the crowd to make it to the backyard. The music was still very audible, but it was considerably softer outside. It was arguably nicer outside, as long as you didn’t mind the people smoking weed.

Catherine wrinkled her nose in disgust and tried to move a bit to get away from the smell, when she noticed Anne standing behind her. Anne must have followed her. She probably assumed that Catherine was heading outside to continue the conversation somewhere quieter.

“So I’m guessing you don’t really like these parties then?” Anne asked, continuing the conversation as predicted.

“What gave it away,” Catherine said dryly, and Anne laughed. Anne had been doing that a lot. Catherine didn’t really think of herself as a funny person, and yet here Anne was, laughing at her comments.

“I was kind of surprised when you said you were coming, to be honest,” Anne said. “You didn’t really seem like a party person.”

Catherine eyebrows narrowed at that comment, but before she could say anything, Anne continued, “Not that that’s a bad thing! Like I said before, parties are kind of stupid.”

Catherine’s face relaxed a little bit, but she was still on guard. “Don’t you like these parties though?”

“It’s mostly just for the drinks,” Anne said, and she held up her solo cup before taking a large gulp of the stuff. As soon as she lowered her cup, she said, “And besides. Just because I like partying, doesn’t mean parties aren’t stupid.”

Catherine hummed, sounding unconvinced.

“So what would you be doing instead?” Anne asked suddenly.

“Excuse me?” Catherine was surprised by the question and didn’t fully understand it.

“I mean, if you weren’t at this gross party, what would you be doing with your Friday night instead?”

Catherine frowned in thought. Honestly, probably nothing. She almost always spent her time with Henry, and when he was at a party, she usually didn’t do anything fun.

“Probably just studying, I suppose,” she said honestly.

“What? On a Friday?” Anne said, her mouth open in shock.

Catherine simply shrugged.

“Okay, but I mean, like, what do you do for fun? Y’know, when you’re not studying,” Anne said, and then after a pause, “You do have fun, right?”

“Of course I do,” Catherine snapped. “I’d … I don’t know, read a book or something.”

“That’s it?” Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you an English major? Doesn’t that mean you like to read books too?” Catherine said, starting to get annoyed.

“Yeah, but I have other hobbies. Like this,” she said, gesturing towards the party and her drink. “And I like to play video games with friends, and sometimes I like to draw.”

“I like drawing too,” Catherine suddenly interrupted. Or at least, she used to draw a lot in high school. Nowadays, the most she ever did was doodle in the sidelines of her notes. “Or, at least I used to. I don’t really do that anymore. I really like to sing.”

“See, that’s cool!” Anne said with a grin. “Do you sing in any of the groups on campus?”

Catherine nodded, smiling a little in pride. “Yeah, I’ve been in the university chorus since freshman year.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. You should invite me to your next concert,” Anne said, her smile growing even wider.

“Really? You’d want to come?” Henry used to go to her concerts in freshman year, but he had stopped halfway through sophomore year. It wasn’t really his kind of thing, and Catherine didn’t really hold it against him. “It doesn’t really seem like your style.”

Anne tilted her head as if confused by Catherine’s comment and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, someone’s head popped out of the door and shouted, “Anne!”

Anne turned around and shouted back, “Tom!”

“What are you doing out here? We’ve been looking for you for ages!” he said. “We’re about to play King’s Cup. Wanna join?”

Anne hesitated and looked to Catherine, as though for confirmation. Catherine gave a small nod, and Anne smiled and turned back to Tom.

“Yeah of course!” she said. She turned back to Catherine and said, “I’ll see you later?”

Catherine smiled and said, “Sure,” and Anne was off, back into the house.

Catherine didn’t want to admit it, but talking to Anne had been the highlight of the party so far. She sighed and drank more of her water. This was going to be a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for some vomiting
> 
> i don't think it's too explicitly described but like you know anne is throwing up and catherine tries to comfort her

At a certain point, Catherine was tired of waiting around. She had exhausted social media, gone through all of the apps on her phone, and even briefly attempted studying by looking up her textbook on her phone. It was time to go.

It was late enough that it would probably be fine if she asked Henry to leave. At least, the house was considerably less packed. She made her way upstairs to where she knew Henry and his friends usually hung out.

When she entered the room, it was pretty quiet. On the couch, she saw Henry with his arm around Anne, who looked to be asleep. Once he saw Catherine, he immediately withdrew his arm and cleared his throat.

“Hey Catherine, I was wondering where you were,” he said, sounding very intoxicated and not at all sorry.

Anne opened her eyes slightly and turned her head, smiling once she saw Catherine. “Catherine! You came! We missed you.” Her words were also very slurred, and it was clear that she was also very drunk.

“Actually, I was just about to leave,” Catherine said, her mouth pursed in a straight line.

“Aw come on babe, it’s not that late. Can’t we stay a little later?” Henry whined.

“The party is over, Henry,” she snapped. “I’m heading home, with or without you.”

“Fine then,” he said, putting his arm back around Anne. “Go home without me.”

Catherine huffed and closed her eyes. She briefly debated what to do in her mind, before stomping towards the couch. “Come on, Anne. Let’s go.”

“What?” Henry said, looking actually angry for the first time since she entered the room. “She’s not going with you.”

“Yeah, well I’m not about to leave her here alone,” she said, looking towards Anne, who was staring back in surprise. Catherine assumed that Anne had come alone, remembering their conversation from class, and knew that leaving her alone in a frat house would be a bad idea. “Safety in numbers.”

At that, Anne smiled widely at Catherine and tried to sit up. Catherine offered her a hand and helped pull her up to her feet.

“Thanks Catherine,” she said, leaning into Catherine heavily.

“Ugh, why do you have to be such a buzzkill?” Henry growled, standing up as well.

“Back off,” Anne said, trying and failing to sound menacing. “You’re the one ruining the mood, dude.” She then snorted, presumably at her own rhyming of “mood” and “dude.”

Catherine gave Henry a pointed look and helped lead Anne out of the room, not even bothering to say goodbye. She could hear Henry cursing under his breath as she left, and she simply rolled her eyes at it.

Eventually, she and Anne made it to her car, with a bit of staggering and stumbling. Once they got inside, she was about to ask Anne for her address, when Anne suddenly said with a breathy voice, “Hey Catherine? I feel a little sick.”

Catherine sighed and started her engine. “Please hold it in as best as you can. My apartment isn’t that far from here.”

Anne simply hummed, and Catherine tried to drive as quickly to her place without making Anne even more sick.

Thankfully, Catherine lived on the first floor, so they didn’t have to take the elevator or the stairs. They just had to make it from the parking lot to her door.

The moment that they got through Catherine’s door, Anne went straight for the bathroom, and Catherine could hear sounds of her throwing up. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, and moved towards the kitchen area to fill a glass of water.

When she entered the bathroom, Anne was still in the middle throwing up, so Catherine put down the water and crouched down to pull Anne’s hair back.

“Do you always go this hard at parties?” she asked dryly, awkwardly rubbing Anne’s back as the poor girl coughed into the toilet.

“Not usually,” Anne croaked out.

“And what was your plan going to be if I hadn’t offered you a ride, hm?” Catherine said with a lilt at the end.

“Probably would’ve stayed with Henry,” Anne said, closing her eyes and resting her head on the toilet seat. “I know frats are gross, but I trust him.”

The fact that Anne trusted Henry made Catherine feel sick, since she herself did not trust Henry. She believed that Henry was a good person, of course. Well, she mostly did. She just didn’t exactly want to test that idea.

“Are you finished?” Catherine asked since Anne hadn’t thrown up for a while, and after a miserable looking nod from Anne, Catherine pulled her up a bit to get her head off the toilet with a soft, “Come on, then.”

After she flushed the toilet, looking up at the ceiling with a grimace, she grabbed the water and put it in Anne’s face. “Drink.”

Anne moaned that she didn’t want to, but after realizing that Catherine was not going to stop pushing, she relented and drank the whole glass. She then allowed Catherine to pull her up and move her to the couch.

“Please don’t roll onto your back,” she said, helping Anne lie down on her side.

“I’m fine,” Anne mumbled, but she did stay in the same position that Catherine left her in. Catherine then left the room, filled another glass with water, and grabbed her Advil. She returned, placed it all on the table next to the couch.

“Okay, I’m just in the other room, so if you need anything, just call,” she said, and was about to leave to get ready for bed when she heard Anne whisper something softly.

“What?”

“Sorry,” Anne said a bit louder, looking up at Catherine with very tired eyes. Catherine was about to shrug it off when Anne continued, “About the whole party, I mean. Not just this. I shouldn’t have ditched you. Especially after you told me that you don’t like parties. That wasn’t cool of me.”

“Yeah, well you just wanted to hang with your friends,” Catherine said with a shrug.

“I think I had more fun with you, honestly,” Anne said, cracking a small, crooked smile.

Catherine snorted at that idea. “Yeah, maybe if you compare it to the throwing up. I bet if you had stayed with me, your night would’ve gone much differently.”

“Even besides the throwing up. I liked talking to you. Much more than Henry, at least,” she said, her eyes drifting closed a bit. “He’s an asshole for ditching you too.”

At this, Catherine’s smile dropped. “I thought you liked him,” Catherine asked with an accusatory tone. She remembered the scene that she had walked in on, with Henry’s arm around her shoulder. And _apparently_ Anne trusted him, so she couldn’t dislike him at the very least.

A soft hum was all Anne had for a response, leaving Catherine confused as to what that meant.

“You’re more fun to hang out with,” Anne said, her voice getting softer and sleepier.

Catherine frowned at that idea, not quite believing Anne. She didn’t bother with arguing the point, though, since it was clear that Anne was half-asleep already, and if she was being honest, she was pretty tired too.

“Good night Anne,” Catherine said.

Anne mumbled a “Good night,” back, and Catherine turned to leave. She lingered in the doorway to her bedroom to look back at Anne, who looked the most peaceful that Catherine had ever seen her. Usually the girl was all bright grins and laughs.

Catherine had always understood why Henry liked Anne, but she had never expected to like Anne herself.

Faintly, she could hear Anne hum to herself, a small smile on her face

Catherine smiled too despite herself and shook her head. She turned off the lights and headed to her own bed to sleep away the strange and confusing night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really love these two i wish there were more fics about them bc i'm bad at writing fics that are not AUs and i like their dynamic in the actual musical context 
> 
> in my ideal world, anne never dates henry and catherine dumps him and then they both run off to be happy together, but alas then henry would only ever have 5 girlfriends and we can't have that. still, i like the idea that they could have been friends before the whole drama happened


End file.
